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Opinion of Kingman's Performance

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Rookies Roll in Minute Maid Park

Let’s not get too excited, afterall, it is a win against the one team that is actually worse than us. But a wins a win, and it was delivered by three rookies. Sands, DeLaRosa and Guerra.

Jerry Sands is figuring out the big leagues. His performance exudes confidence in all areas of the game. Today’s grand slam homer was mashed to deep left center field. 422 feet. It’s a beautiful thing to see a home grown prospect gel into a confident and productive player. Jerry Sands will be a fine player for a very long time. I can see him as a solid veteran playing in all star game after all star game into the 2020's.

Rubby DeLaRosa concentrates in his Major League debut. He retired the side in order with 2 K's.

Rubby DeLaRosa was electric with his stuff. That guy is going to raise some eyebrows around the league. He reminds me of Pedro Martinez back in ’93. He has such poise. And Javy Guerra raised himself to a clutch level by retiring the side in order to record his first save. Some of Ned Colletti’s comments about (first) Rubby DeLaRosa and (second) Javy Guerra on Dodgertalk following the game were:

“I think if he (DeLaRosa) does end up staying here the rest of the year, he’ll end up pitching out of the bullpen most of the time. I think some of his appearances could be two or three innings...we’ll have to measure the durability issue with him. I’m not really concerned whether or not he’s gonna have enough innings this year in order to be a starter next year. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, we’re worried about the 2011 season right now...”

“We’ve thought for a while that Javy Guerra had the talent to do it. The question was whether or not he had the big league maturity to do it. Sometimes when you’re put in a spot, like we’ve been put in now where we have four relievers on the D.L...sometimes you gotta take a chance, and he was game for the opportunity, and except for the inning in Chicago the other day, his 4 or 5 appearances have all been pretty good. And to come into the 9th inning, after losing the game like we did yesterday, you know there was no safety net for him, being that DeLaRosa was already out of the game. The performance he put up was pretty good. We preach all the time, velocity is great but throwing strikes is the best...he and DeLaRosa throw strikes and if you do that, you have a chance to win.”

Javy Guerra records his first major league save against Houston tonight.

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I am sitting in my living room watching the Sharks-Canucks playoff game. Not because I have a real love for hockey, nor because I’m a fan of either team. It’s because I have an overtime assignment tonight in San Jose, that is supposed to be at 12:30 am. It is the Sharks charter flight that returns from Vancouver. They are right now playing their second overtime period, so it looks like I’ll be working into the wee hours of the morning. No way that flight arrives before 2:30 am. Even if the game were to end right now, (it’s 9:43 pm).

In my years working for Customs, I have come across a lot of athletes from nearly all sports. By far, the most professional and polite of those I have encountered are hockey players. For the most part and with few exceptions, they are friendly, polite, usually smile and have a friendly conversation. Even the superstars. Believe it or not, I think a lot of those from the hockey culture have just been raised well. Canadians are nice people.

I'm telling you. Those guys are leaving their lives out their on the ice, they play with such intensity. I can't think of a sport that is so physically taxing. This is a great game. Anyway, I hope the Sharks win because I’d like to see them return in a good mood and not after a playoff elimination. The Sharks coach, Todd McLellan, is an really nice guy.

Shoot, Vancouver just won it. That’s going to be an unhappy group of guys coming in this morning.